By Rohana R. Wasala

A writer by the name of Dr M. Harris Z Deen (Attacks on Islamic places of worship and properties go unabated despite assurances/The Island Features/May 22, 2017) begins his feature article with these words:

The patience of the Sri Lankan Muslims is at a breaking point and can certainly boil over if the government does not take any immediate positive steps to bring the rabble mongers to book we are likely to see more bloodshed than the butchery that happened during the thirty years of civil strife between the Sinhala and Tamil communities”.

This unnecessarily provocative opening sentence is an utter misrepresentation of the prevailing factual situation, which is fairly well known to those whom Harris Deen roundly condemns as rabble mongers” (obviously, a slip of the pen for rabble-rousers”); it is an exact reversal of the truth. That the monks have genuine concerns to express is even better known to the shady characters on the side that Harris Deen is naturally sympathetic to, and supports, probably in ignorance or more probably in righteous deception. Harris Deen is insulting the Sri Lankan Muslims by identifying them with a few fundamentalist elements who are at the root of the problem. A certain Muslim minister (one of them against whom these monks are allegedly armed with concrete evidence) also made the same warning a few weeks back. People ask: Are you people privy to something sinister happening? Please don’t jump to conclusions before these so-called Attacks on Islamic places of worship” are properly investigated by the authorities and the culprits are apprehended or until the authenticity of the charges is duly established. Do not play with fire. We, the citizens of this beloved motherland of ours, have a duty to do and say whatever we can to make it as happy, as healthy and as secure a place as possible for our children and their children and for all future generations. It is in that spirit that I am writing this reply to you, Dr M. Harris Deen!

Galaboda Aththe Gnanasara Thera (who has earned the dubious reputation of having already seriously damaged a worthy cause by giving verbal expression to his explosive temper which is entirely out of character with a Buddhist monk) and many other deeply concerned monks have long been raising their voice against the activities of certain dangerous fundamentalist Christian and Islamic sects which are considered a threat even to the traditional Christian and Muslim communities. They are also playing leading roles in a number of nonpolitical youth movements which are active against the aggressive encroachment on, and deliberate destruction of, ancient Buddhist archaeological sites in the North and East provinces where our millennia old island civilization had its roots. I have no personal knowledge of these things. I depend on what is publicly available in the media, particularly in the uncensored social media. It is when some Muslims, thought to be sponsored by a fanatical Islamist sect with foreign backing, put up unauthorized structures in ancient Buddhist historical sites under the very nose of certain unconcerned government officials who are officially responsible for their protection, that these monk activists apparently try to take the law into their own hands. The inaction of the government functionaries including law enforcement authorities in those areas in the face of encroachment and vandalizing of Buddhist historical places is the main reason why Buddhist monks get involved in this problem. So the ultimate responsibility rests with the government. It is not a religious or political problem. It is a failure of good governance.

These historical and archaeological places are of importance not only to the Sinhalese whose ancestors built edifices in them that are now in ruins, mostly buried in the earth, but also to the other Sri Lankan communities, because we are the common inheritors of those treasures. These monks’ agitations are not about politics, but about safeguarding the Sinhalese Buddhist cultural heritage of our country. The state has the primary responsibility to prevent conditions from arising that force our monks to resort to modes of protesting that are incompatible with their traditional image of inner calm and characteristic forbearance. In practical terms, this means that all those elected members in parliament, whatever their status (whether they are in the government or in the oppositions, whether they are ruling at present or ruled in the past), must be held accountable; since the problem involves Buddhist monks, the Mahanayakes take equal responsibility. But we know that nearly all of them have been unpardonably remiss in doing their duty. The genuinely concerned citizens of this country are more worried about the fact that the patience of the monks (and that of the Sinhalese Buddhist community who are aware of the evil that is happening to them) is wearing thin than about the unwarranted threats (full of ‘sound and fury, signifying nothing’, though) of a handful of ministerial nincompoops who are almost entirely to blame for the present deplorable state of affairs (if the evidence alleged to be in the monks’ possession is true as they claim). That the monks are not alone should not be forgotten.

But for the social media the provocative unlawful activities of the fundamentalist elements go almost entirely unreported. The mainstream media observe a judicious silence in the name of reconciliation. Rightly or wrongly the ordinary people are kept in the dark about what is happening in the background to which these monks and their young supporters are reacting. A slightly more fortunate/or significantly more unfortunate minority of us avail ourselves of informal uncensored newscasts on the social media, and are aware of many recent instances of aggression on our ancient Buddhist historical sites by non-Buddhists in the northern and eastern provinces, apparently in defiance of the law enforcement authorities in those areas. There is much credible video evidence to confirm this on the internet. Anybody interested can check out. Minister Wijedasa Rajapakse visited a certain place in the East in response to days of agitation by Buddhist monks and lay activists, inspected the vandalized spots, and promised to take some practical steps to stop the situation deteriorating further, like setting up some guard posts at vulnerable points. This happened not many weeks ago. I think he kept his promise. However, since the problem seems to persist, we must conclude that nothing very effective has still been done. How long is this going to go on? We do not know if the information bruited about in the internet about the desecration and even destruction of sacred Buddhist sites in the said provinces is true or false. It is up to the responsible government authorities to investigate and inform us of the truth, and take corrective action on behalf of us all.

Harris Deen also wrongly believes that the thirty year civil conflict was between the Sinhala and Tamil communities”. In this, he is seriously mistaken or knowingly misleading. Or perhaps he himself has been misled about it. Again it is difficult to think he is deliberately making misleading comments. But to say that the conflict was between the Sinhala and Tamil communities is an absolute lie. Throughout the period which saw civilian massacres , suicide bombings, and other atrocities committed by separatist terrorists, there were no retaliatory attacks on Tamil civilians. Even the attacks on Tamils in 1983 were carried out by some criminal elements (probably used as agents provocateurs by some outside power with a view to destabilizing the country); they did not represent the whole Sinhalese community. The majority of the ordinary Sinhalese sheltered the victims as best they could under the unfortunate circumstances then prevailing for which the UNP government of the day were to be held responsible.

Even during the deadliest phase of the armed separatist conflict, the previous government never failed to feed the ordinary (mostly Tamil and Muslim) inhabitants of the north and east provinces with or without the assistance of the UN bodies normally active in such situations. It was well known that the rebels stole much of the food stuffs sent to the north for civilian consumption. The Tamil civilians in the affected areas were not starved even though the LTTE cadres stole their food: The latter who controlled the distribution of food sent to the embattled areas often inflated the numbers of civilians who were to be fed in order to get extra food supplies. After the war was over, TV news teams showed how the Tamil rebels had used sacks of lentils, rice etc sent for the civilian population as sand bags from behind which to fire at the enemy from their bunkers! The government also sent medicines to the hospitals in the North. It was known that the rebels also made use of these drugs just as they ate the food that was meant for civilians. Salaries were paid to government servants in those areas. Schools functioned without much interruption. Even terror leader Prabhakaran’s children studied in government schools in Kilinochchi until the end of their A-Levels, after which they were sent to Britain for higher education by Prabhakaran. Towards the war’s end, some 295,000 displaced Tamils, held as a human shield by the LTTE, were taken to makeshift refugee centres amidst intense LTTE obstructions including shooting at escaping civilians; although things were not easy initially, these refugees were later accommodated in better camps, where facilities were soon provided for children’s schooling and for public healthcare.

So, if the war-winning government of the time didn’t think much about countering the anti-Sri Lanka propaganda blitzkrieg launched by the defeated separatists and their sympathizers, it was because the then rulers were too absorbed in the tasks of rebuilding the war-devastated areas and in resettling the displaced Tamil civilians and in improving their general lot. In the final stages of the humanitarian operation (so dubbed because its purpose was to rescue the Tamil civil civilians held hostage by the LTTE to ensure their own physical survival); even those Tamil refugees started praying for a decisive victory over their would-be saviours, which demonstrated the fact that the conflict was not between the Sinhalese and the Tamil communities, but between the state and a rebel group that challenged its authority. Harris Deen himself seems to hint at this towards the end of his article in these words: The Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people irrespective of linguistic or religious leanings welcomed the ending of the war despite protests from vested interests losing their ‘avenue’ of ‘revenue’ through illegal arms sales and other activities including dealing in drugs…” (though these ‘vested interests’ had been motivated by far more dignified goals than those suggested by Harris Deen).

In seeming to apportion the major part of the blame for ethnic tensions in post-independence Sri Lanka to the majority Sinhalese community, particularly to Sinhalese Buddhists, he shows his general ignorance of the factual background. It was not what he calls the ‘result of 1958’ that ultimately led to the emergence of Tamil separatist terrorism. The unjustified separatist sentiment was crystallized by S.J.V. Chelvanayagam who, in 1949, founded the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kacchi (Lanka Tamil Kingdom/State Party) in the form of its ideology. The Sinhalese majority never grudged the minorities living with them in peace, enjoying equal rights, although they have no other country to call their homeland. The separatist ideology is being kept alive by foreign ‘vested interests’ with their own specific geopolitical axes to grind. The Sinhalese are indigenous to Sri Lanka. The Sinhalese Buddhist culture evolved there. Sri Lanka is the motherland of the Sinhalese. It is only those who regard it as their one and only motherland, their inalienable property, who genuinely love Sri Lanka. But this does not mean that the country is exclusively for the Sinhalese.

When some Muslims (like Harris Deen) write or say, The patience of the Sri Lankan Muslims is at a breaking point….”, they seem to assume that there are no sectarian divisions among them. Such an assumption is erroneous. However, a nearly homogeneous Muslim community was what existed in Sri Lanka about 40 to 45 years ago. But at present the situation is different in that respect. The spiritual tradition of Sufism, like in other parts of South Asia, is dominant among Sri Lankan Muslims (9% of the population where almost 70% are Buddhists). The two communities have been living together peaceably for centuries. Although the usual ethnic harmony between the Buddhists and the Muslims still holds for the most part, unfortunately, of late, an element of mutual distrust and aloofness has begun contaminating Buddhist Muslim social relations. This is due almost entirely to the activities of a movement called the Thawheed (Monotheism) dedicated to the propagation of the ultra-fundamentalist ideology of Wahhabism which is deadly opposed to Sufism. Wahhabism is the official version of Islam in Saudi Arabia.

The present Saudi kingdom was founded in the early 1930s by British protégé Abdu Aziz Ibn Saud. In the first half of the 20th century, the British and French imperial powers divided up the Middle East into kingdoms as a part of their divide and rule strategy. They did this with a view to promoting their strategic and commercial interests in the region. The Arab Oil Embargo of 1973-1974 (imposed against the United States by the Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the OPEC) in retaliation to its support for Israel) made Saudi Arabia extraordinarily rich. The new riches have enabled the Saudi Wahhabists to pursue their expansionist dreams. The movement which is well funded by the rich Saudis is opening religious schools or madrases in Sri Lanka as they are doing in other countries allegedly for the propagation of Wahhabism. Suddenly, however, Qatar has reputedly emerged as an even more fanatical sponsor of this particularly expansionist brand of Islam.

Understandably, Buddhists led by the monks are looking on such developments with apprehension, because they believe that the Wahhabists are out to destroy the Sinhalese Buddhist cultural foundation of Sri Lanka. There is a lot of evidence that is cited to support that belief. They are undermining the traditional goodwill that exists between the Buddhists and Muslims. The Wahhabists do not represent the mainstream Muslim community in Sri Lanka who are predominantly Sufis. The Wahhabists treat the latter as heretics, and often visit violence on them. When the Sufi order Thareekathul Mufliheen opened a meditation centre at Kattankudy in 1996, the Wahhabists attacked the place with grenades and guns; they shot at the members of the Sufi sect. This happened in May that year. Eight and a half years later, late night on October 31, 2004, about 500 Wahhabi jihadists set fire to the aforementioned meditation centre again. They destroyed the centre’s library, along with houses and businesses owned by the Sufis.

Just a few days ago, on the night of June 8, 2017, at 11 pm, an armed group, allegedly members of the Thawheed Jamad Organization, attacked a mosque at Ottamawadu and completely destroyed it. The mainstream media hardly give any publicity to such incidents. Incidents of violence, allegedly committed by Buddhist monks-led Sinhalese ‘gangs’, are freely reported, without any regard for the necessity of verifying the accuracy of such reports. Some attacks are said to be self-inflicted so as to throw suspicion upon members of Sinhalese Buddhist organizations who only want to draw the government’s and public’s attention to the criminal activities of communalists and religious fanatics who are hell- bent on destroying the traditional Buddhist cultural heritage of the country. The monks are reacting to mischief; they are not mischief- makers. On June 11, a fire gutted a tea factory at Nawalapitiya owned by a Muslim. Minister Rauf Hakeem strongly suggested that it was the work of a certain (Sinhala Buddhist) organization. But the owner of the factory said that the fire was caused by an electricity leakage. Rauf Hakeem is among the Muslim ministers who, the monks charge, clandestinely support invasive Islamist sectarianism.

Trying to browbeat, in the name of reconciliation, the innocent while mollycoddling the real perpetrators of communal and religious violence, will not solve the problem. What must be done, and what the monk activists are demanding, is that the authorities investigate the reality behind these vociferous mutual recriminations by Buddhist and Muslim groups and individuals, and that appropriate remedial measures be taken expeditiously and impartially to arrest the rot before the situation worsens as so wickedly expected by unseen mischief makers from outside.

13 Responses to “Barking up the wrong tree”

Rohana has analysed situation well and correctly blaming ” failure of good governance ” for both Tamil Terrorism and Arabic Invasion.
Both TT and MI are going on in top gear, never less vigour than before. If you think LTTE is finshed, it has been resurrect by “well-off Sinhalese” who earned “the full freedom from the bomb” thanks to poor TRUE PATRIOTIC soldier.
All what is happening are Naadagam staged by the politician.

‘Trump is a good man and I pray for him every day,” Galagoda Atte Gnanasara told me in late April, later bragging that he himself is even better than U.S. President Donald Trump.

Gnanasara is Sri Lanka’s notorious rabble-rousing monk and leader of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), or Buddhist Power Force, a radical nationalist religious organization. He draws crowds of tens of thousands and is known for inciting violence targeting Muslims. Gnanasara’s praise for Trump came when I asked him about the Muslim travel ban.

Gnanasara whips crowds into a frenzy, passionately exhorting Buddhists to rise up and protect what he believes is being threatened — namely their Sinhalese identity. He insists he is not anti-Islam, only anti-extremism. In person, he is mild-mannered and thoughtful, a man living with minimal security despite making many enemies. In his monastery in central Colombo, there is a bank of security monitors, but aside from a few acolytes the compound is only watched over by a large statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy.

“I think I have the most amazing ability compared with many other Sri Lankans because around 400 Christian Evangelical organizations here are all against me,” Gnanasara confided. “And you know Muslims meet every Friday in their mosque, they all denounce me. Because they cannot physically kill me, they try to kill my character.”

The BBS was established in 2012 following Sri Lanka’s long civil war from 1983-2009, which pitted the nation’s Buddhist ethnic Sinhalese majority against the ethnic Tamils in the northeast of the island who were fighting for an independent homeland. The nation remains deeply scarred by this conflict.

Farzana Haniffa, a sociologist at the University of Colombo, told me BBS was launched to mobilize militant monks and the public against Muslims because the state was looking for a new enemy to help unify the Sinhalese community. It is widely believed that the BBS was the brainchild of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, defense minister at the time and brother of then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa .

State sponsorship apparently endowed BBS with impunity, power and funding, but when the Rajapaksa government was ousted in the 2015 elections, the BBS lost its patron. Since then Rajapaksa has blamed the BBS for the defeat, accusing the group of alienating Muslim voters who backed his rival en masse. Gnanasara acknowledges this may be true, even if it was not his intention.

Muslim voters believed the BBS had orchestrated attacks on their community, including the 2014 burning of Muslim shops and homes just south of Colombo following incendiary BBS rallies. Gnanasara denies responsibility for these incidents, accusing the media of sensationalism in blaming his speeches for subsequent mob actions.

When I asked Mahinda Rajapaksa about this issue in June 2016, he downplayed allegations of links between his family and BBS, but he defended the violence, saying that monks “are only human,” although he added, “I have never seen a Buddhist monk advocating killing.”

Gnanasara thinks Rajapaksa actually supports BBS. “My feeling is that he knows that what we discuss is correct, but he cannot openly tell this to the public,” he said.

Gnanasara draws on the legacy of 19th-century militant monks fighting British colonialism. “I think I live in reincarnation,” he said. “Once I complete my task here I will go back to my religious activity.”

How will he know when his goal is achieved? When Sri Lanka is “one country, one nation, one law. That is one of my tasks, to have common law for everybody. I will fight until such time that a leader can say that this is a country of Sinhalese Buddhists.”

He complains that “a Sinhalese man can only marry one woman; Muslims can marry four or five.” This law, he argues, is why the Muslim population, about 10 percent of the nation’s population of 21 million, is rapidly expanding, posing a demographic challenge to the Sinhalese Buddhist (70 percent of the population) character of the nation, something he seeks to defend by limiting the number of children per family.

“We have a problem with inter-race marriage and are against Sinhalese men marrying a Muslim woman. We do not ask her to change her name, nothing. But when a Muslim man marries a Sinhalese woman, immediately she has to change her history, name, religion and everything. So that’s what we do not like, and we will lobby for a maximum number of children for each family.”

Regarding unifying the law for all communities, Gnanasara lamented that Rajapaksa “lost his opportunity. Soon after the war he could have, but he missed it. He could have been not only Sri Lanka’s Buddhist leader, but the Buddhist leader of the entire religion.”

Why did he miss this chance? Gnanasara attributes it to “corruption and the personality of his relatives.”

He is satisfied that his message about “cultural destruction and the threat of Islamization” has gone mainstream, claiming this as a major success. Haniffa, a Muslim woman, laments that Gnanasara is essentially right, because in her view anti-Muslim sentiments are widespread and have become far too accepted in society.

Gnanasara says that BBS will now shift its focus to social welfare issues such as education, family planning and health care while working to eliminate corruption and ignorance in the parliament. According to Gnanasara this is an uphill battle because ” 50 percent of parliamentarians are without basic education.” In his view, “We don’t have citizens, we have political slaves.”

He denies that BBS monks are militants, asserting that their activism is defending Sinhalese culture. Referring to Christians and Muslims, he said, “When they come to disturb us, we are fighting, but that does not mean we are militants.” He added, “Buddhism does not mean that you should allow anything to happen.”

Sri Lanka, he warns, is overly tolerant, and claims that tolerance is something that doesn’t exist in any Muslim-majority nation. He warns that if nothing is done to stop the creeping Islamization of Sri Lanka, intolerance will prevail.

Gnanasara is unrepentant about agitating in areas where holy sites are disputed with Muslims. In May, shortly after we met, the media reported that hundreds of monks surrounded Gnanasara to prevent police from arresting him in connection with local riots linked with an attack on a mosque. He has now gone into hiding. Several similar attacks on mosques and Muslim shops, attributed to BBS, occurred around that time. Alas, the politics of hate remain unquenched.

Jeff Kingston is the director of Asian Studies, Temple University Japan.

Under the MR/UPFA GOSL, every community in Sri Lanka can get a fair shake and be assured of EQUAL RIGHTS.

The minorities FAILED to appreciate that fact driven by people who fed their GREED for a bigger piece of Sri Lanka at the expense of the Sinhala Buddhists.

When the war ended MR FAILED TO SECURE the legitimate rights of the Sinhala Buddhist community, and left the door open for the separatists to mount a coup-de-etat with foreign help to achieve their separatist dreams.

As in the PAST, they will be PROVEN WRONG, for they UNDERESTIMATE the LOVE and WILLINGNESS of the Sinhala Buddhists to die if necessary for their Motherland. They MISTAKE our TOLERANCE & PATIENCE for unwillingness to FIGHTBACK. They will be PROVEN WRONG …. ONCE AGAIN in the NEAR FUTURE. ALL they have achieved is destroying the REMAINING SYMPATHY they had from the Sinhala Buddhists community.

MR MUST NOT LET DOWN the Sinhala Buddhists again; they are the only community that thinks, acts and supports the Interests of ALL of the citizens of the Nation, while securing the Sinhala Buddhist interests FIRST as the preponderant majority community.

If the minorities continue their attemo to divide and conquer the Sinhala Buddhists as they are doing now under the Yamapalanaya, NEITHER the MINORITIES NOR the MAJORITY will have and peace or opportunity to prosper.

SO BE IT; the Sinhala Buddhist will NEVER YIELD their Motherland to ANY MINORITY or to ANY FOREIGN POWER!

Problems with Muslims all over the world is not because of Buddhist Priests in Sri Lanka or because of Rev Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thero. It is because of the belligerent attitude of the Muslims towards other religions and cultures. Whole world is slowly coming to the realisation of this truth. It is increasingly becoming obvious that they are not ready to live and let live.

The recent militancy on their part, runaway Muslim population growth, occupation of territory and subsequent displacement of other communities and their intolerance towards others different from their way of life are some of the aspects that are becoming obvious to the so far unwary!

This is happening all over the world. It is time the Non Muslim world took notice and then seriously. Muslim way of life is a one way street. There is no longer room for complacency!

“MR MUST NOT LET DOWN the Sinhala Buddhists again; they are the only community that thinks, acts and supports the Interests of ALL of the citizens of the Nation, while securing the Sinhala Buddhist interests FIRST as the preponderant majority community.”

At last USA said something sensible.

But MR has already LET DOWN Singhala Buddhists again. He will do it again.

He thinks WHATEVER HE DOES Singhala Buddhists will vote for him. They can be TAKEN FOR GRANTED.

Mussies’ problem is wherever they are/were/going to be, breed, breed and breed. Relentless breeding of course
going to cause problems since you have to fight for resources. But mussies, following a mad religion think it is
going to be alright with divine intervention. Charles Darwin with his theory of evolution showed the world there was
no creator god and made these god-based religions a mockery. Did the world see the end of those unreligions? Of
tcourse not. Instead they spent/spend vast sums of money to promote them. Fear of god also on their side and they keep
propagating this myth successfully. If this so called god going to punish baddies, god himself going to be the baddest of
all and going to lose his job. After all how he is going to keep track of all the things happening in the universe. It
doesn’t make sense.

But these brain-washed mussies keep breeding and breeding and destroy other religions.
In Sri Lanka, mussies multiply like xxxx and completely destroyed the east including ancient Buddhist temples.
But all the Buddhists should keep quiet about it and worship mussies instead. That’s what they expect. We
aren’t surprised when those low lives are practising a complete madness preaching to kill non-believers etc.
Laughable thing is these murderous orders coming from above (emails, tweets etc? maybe). Of course godly
advice?

That’s how these multiplying mussies destroyed old Buddhist iran, afganisthan,pakesthan, maldives, bangladesh,
malaysia and indonesia within a few hundred years of their arrivals in those countries. Look at hell holes these
religion of utter peace (also the fastest breeding religion) has created all over the world. Laughable thing is then
they want to escape those hell holes to non mussie countries. As soon as the mussies get a foothold there, then
they want to create same hell holes in the new country as well. Haven’t these multiplying mussies got any
brains at all? What they should do is stop multiplying and follow a true religion to live in the real world. After all mankind
who has been able to put a man on the moon doen’t need messages from above to kill your neighbour etc. if he
isn’t a mussie. Doesn’t make any sense at all this madness! Mussies use your brains if you have one!

Muslims are getting ready to play with fire. If they woke up the sleeping lion that’s the end of it. They will not know who hit them. We Sinhalese are a patient lot and very kind too so I hope people like Deen should think twice before they make unnecessary comments. I warn Muslims do not take stupid decisions and dig your own graves. We lived harmoniously for decades so do not try to spoil it. We love peace and and we love our Motherland more than anything. Unite to save Motherland.

Take note Ananda-USA. You know me! Excellent work by GR and DAYAN has proven once again why he CANNOT be trusted. ISRAEL was the reason behind SL’s war VICTORY. So now it is ISRAEL behind BBS????

But be careful. DJ mixes FACTS with OPINIONS. Elam call was there for 100 years. Israel has NOTHING to do with it. Who are you to criticize ISRAEL anyway DJ?

“Making a startling revelation during the speech, Jayatilleka told the audience

“There is something I want to reveal. A highly placed defence official has sent a SMS to me and asked me who I was to be criticising Israel. I said I was the Ambassador appointed by his brother” he said.

Detailing the manner in which Israel had interfered with the country through its influence on Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Jayatilleka said Sri Lanka had used the Israeli prototype for post war rebuilding, resulting in the resurrection of the call for an Eelam.

He said the then government had a “secret agreement with Israel”.

“During the period of 2008-2009 there were many delegations which visited Israel by top Defence Officials. Minister Champika Ranawaka was also once there but that is no surprise. They were offered advice for Post-Conflict Homeland Security by the Israeli government. These Defence Officials accepted that proposal. That is the prototype they used in Sri Lanka giving rise to the resurgence of the call of Eelamists……..” he said.

Speaking of the Anti-Muslim phenomenon, in conjunction with the rest of his revelations, Jayatilleka said that it was Gotabaya Rajapaksa who provided cover for the Bodu Bala Sena.”

Lorenzo,
Here Dayan giving his opinion that use of Islrael’s model led to “the resurrection of the call for an Eelam”. Looks like what he means is Israel arranged BBS via Gota and Champika and because of that Jihad votes lost and MR lost and then MR’s loss caused “the resurrection of the call for an Eelam”.
What rubbish is that ?
MR did not loose because of Jihadist votes. MR did so much for the Jihadists but their method is always going to the wininig side , before or after ANY election. Furthermore “call for eelam” started back in 2010, originally internationally and then locally with the appoinment of Vigneshwaran.
We can and we should get out of this by only being honest straight thinking.

GR was a successful government functionary under his brother the president. If he had to be pragmatic in his approach, that was demanded by the nature of his mission. He didn’t act as a politician. I think he’d prove himself to be a good no-nonsense prime minister or president, were he to be appointed to that post by some quirk of fate; but he’s not likely to be a politician, least of all, a politician of the run-of-the-mill slimy type. An idealistic political scientist like DJ can only comment on an unfolding situation, whereas a practical minded bureaucrat (like what GR was) will devote themselves for the success of their mission. A public intellectual is usually satisfied delivering lectures on their pet subject; but a pragmatist government servant will be focused on delivering results. If GR took a leaf out of Israel’s book in post-war rebuilding, there’s nothing wrong in that. Had the previous government not begun addressing the rebuilding process even before the war was properly brought to an end, the exit of the LTTE would have been delayed somewhat as it would have taken longer to wean the Tamil public of their initial allegiance to that organisation. It is unfair to hold GR responsible for the presently threatened resurgence of the terror outfit. The conspiratorially installed yahapalana regime is creating the necessary environment for that.

As for Israel, it was fairly obvious to observers at the time that the Israelis sided with neither the government nor the LTTE, for they sold military training services to both sides simultaneously.

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